Set in atmospheric 1950s San Francisco, Rough Pages asks who is allowed to tell their own stories, and how far would you go to seek out the truth.

Private Detective Evander “Andy” Mills has been drawn back to the Lavender House estate for a missing person case. Pat, the family butler, has been volunteering for a book service, one that specializes in mailing queer books to a carefully guarded list of subscribers. With bookseller Howard Salzberger gone suspiciously missing along with his address book, everyone on that list, including some of Andy’s closest friends, is now in danger.

A search of Howard’s bookstore reveals that someone wanted to stop him and his co-owner, Dorothea Lamb, from sending out their next book. The evidence points not just to the Feds, but to the Mafia, who would be happy to use the subscriber list for blackmail.

Andy has to maneuver through both the government and the criminal world, all while dealing with a nosy reporter who remembers him from his days as a police detective and wants to know why he’s no longer a cop. With his own secrets closing in on him, can Andy find the list before all the lives on it are at risk?

Just like the previous books in the series, the author Lev AC Rosen tells a brilliant mystery in Rough Pages, asking complicated questions and immersing the reader in the atmospheric 1950’s San Francisco. In the third book in the Evander Mills series, the story has “Andy” trying to solve a mystery that ends up being far more complicated and layered than expected. And in trying to solve it, the story leads the reader to questions about who gets to have access to telling their story and how far you would go for the truth.

What I love the most about this series is the complex characters. Andy is not simple and neither are his relationships. But I love the way found family comes together in this story in particular, community and friendship helping bridge the gap in a world that at the time was difficult for the LGBTQ community. But I also like the way that resonates in the present day, asking who gets to tell the stories of the community and how important those stories are told, how integral it is that those voices are heard. The mystery is brilliant, in the way Andy puts together the pieces and the truth of what really happened.  But just as important is how the truth is presented. 

If you love brilliant complex mysteries, this is the third in the series. You don’t have to read the other two but I highly recommend you do as certain aspects of this novel will make more sense if you have done so. But it is a story that will immerse you in its world and make you contemplate what stories are important to hear. I hope for more stories like this one. 

Rating: 5 out of 5 books